The Cover Story
by EloFoSh0
Summary: It is as though the Elric brothers had never attempted human transmutation. However, Ed still lost his limbs, but Al remained unscathed. What happened during their childhood years in Resembol?


**The Cover Story**

**Basically, this is the cover story created by Roy Mustang and Edward Elric in detail when Ed became an official state alchemist. Anyways, Ed, Al, and Winry knew Russel and Fletcher as childhood friends.**

**Disclaimer: do not own FMA**

**Warning: Potty mouth**

He was floating, dwelling in the darkness of his subconscious, reminiscing about …... He was neither from a pecunious family nor a penurious one. They were pedestrians; simply everyday working class citizens living in the slow moving, yet awe-inspiring countryside, ignoring the fast moving pace of the city life as well as the peevish and petulant people that came along with it. Life was relaxing and great, no abstract can describe it, and nothing can go wrong. Until one day...

It all started as an accident, five young children were playing in the idyllic fields and hills of the countryside. Sadly, little did they know about the "conflict" occurring just miles away from them. They were ignorant of the battle going between two races as they were too engaged in their effervescent game.

A young boy of the age of nine by the name of Alphonse, who was running around laughing lightheartedly, suddenly brought himself to a halt in his ephemeral game of tag. Through his peripheral vision, he was the first to notice an eerie dark cloud of colloids emerging near the peripheries from the south.

"Hey, guys...?" Alphonse spoke hesitantly with a fear. He knew about the fighting that's going on based on the rumors going around and what his mother told him. He had seen soldiers marching towards, what he believed are the battlefield, early in the morning and sometimes coming back wounded with a scary look in their eyes at night. They had always played in the same place, but never have they seen any smoke coming up from the horizon. Alphonse had a really bad feeling about the ominous cloud that is reaching towards the sky.

Edward was the first to stop, "What's wrong, Al?" He asked his brother skeptically, feeling a bit winded from running. Each person had ceased running by then looking at Al, who seemed to be gazing off in a distance.

Alphonse raised his index finger in response, guiding it towards the enthralling, yet threatening swirl of ash, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, ammonia and other dangerous components and turned towards his friends. "I don't think this is a good place to play anymore. Remember what mom said about the fighting going on in the south. I don't remember seeing any smoke there before. It seems to be getting closer."

All children four of those children turned their heads towards the direction pointed and realized what Al was staring at. Winry, who is a neighbor and family friend of the Elric brothers, was frightened and fidgeted. "I think we should go back home." She declared with a soft voice. She was afraid; her philanthropic parents had gone off to the war as doctors to treat the wounded, and they never came back. They practiced philanthropy, treating not only their allies, but also their enemies as well. In the end they were found out and killed off by their own people.

However, the oldest and most egotistical of the group, Russell, seemed unaffected by the sight. "Oh, come on!" he exclaimed. "What are you afraid of?" He asked. When he received no response he scoffed "Look, they is no way that anything is going to happen to us. It's too far off for it to do any harm, and it's not coming any closer. We'll be alright."

Nevertheless, Fate decided otherwise. An enhanced miss-fired missile soared in the air landing at the foot of the hill, dangerously close to where the kids are. As the impact shook the ground, the kids panicked and fled.

"'It's not coming any closer,' huh? I can see the kind of perverse logic you have. We should have listened to Al and Winry, but noo! You were having too much fun and didn't want it to end! Remind me to knock you in next week when I see you again" Ed effusively admonished between breaths as he ran along side with Russell.

"Well, I can't help it, I was winning, and none of you guys could catch me," breathed the adamant Russell while he ran next to Ed.

"Make that next month" Ed retorted. "Don't you ever get tired of always winning?"

"Nope!"

"Cocky Bastard"

"Annoying Shrimp"

"What? WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP? I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, I'D BE TALL IN HEELS! YOU JERK!"**(1)**

"You heard me! Or do you want me to elaborate on the fact that 'Ed is a petulant pipsqueak, who can't handle that fact, and admit that HE. IS. SHORT.'"

"Well, At least I'm not some kind of self-acclaiming bastard, who only thinks about himself!"

"Hey! You and I both know that is not true"

"Prove it!"

"I will! After we get the hell out of here!"

They rushed to their separate ways and caught up with their younger siblings. They took short cuts in order to reach their homes sooner.

Unfortunately,There are many switches in tenses here. Fate decided to be a sadist for a day and another miss-fired projectile was launched, and headed straight towards the Elric brothers. Ed, who glanced back as he ran, spotted the missile. He pushed Alphonse forward. He tried to scamper away from their previous location, which was taking an abridged route towards home. With one final strong shove, Ed and Al hurled towards the hard ground. The eldest quickly covered his younger brother's sensitive ears, leaving his own to be exposed to the loud explosion to come. Alphonse was lucky; he was spared from the pain.

Ed was another story entirely. Once the missile struck the ground, a deafening blast came with it, leaving Ed's ears ringing and his head pounding. He felt lethargic and numb. He didn't even notice the pain or the blood that was pouring out of his left thigh and right shoulder. Parts of metal from the miss-fired projectile had shattered upon impact and implanted themselves into his shoulder and thigh. He laid there on the ground, covering Al with his body; the only thing he was aware of was the constant ringing in his ears and the numbness of his body. He couldn't hear the desperate cries from his younger sibling or see the tears pouring down from Alphonse's eyes. Ed tried to open his eyes, but all he saw was a blur, the colors of gold and tan weaving into each other.

"Ed! Ed!" Alphonse cried repeatedly, Ed isn't responding to his calls at all. "Come on brother stay with us!" Al was starting to panic; his heart was beating rapidly as the thought of loosing his brother flashes through his mind.

Winry on the other hand, had seen what happened. Al and Ed were scurrying towards their respective home until an unidentified missile struck the ground a few feet away from the brothers. Just before the missile collided into the aesthetic earth, Edward shoved his younger sibling to the ground and covered him with his body.

A thick storm of dirt was kicked up by the impact before abating aside, enough for Winry to see the damage done. She could hear the cries made by Alphonse, but Ed was eerily silent, which was very concerning, if one accommodates the fact that he is a very effusive child. She rushed in the direction of the siblings and arrived close enough to evaluate the damage done. It seemed like Ed's eardrums were abolished by explosive sound, if his bleeding ears was anything to go by. Life had embittered Edward as Winry examine how deep the wound was on his left thigh and right shoulder. Perfunctorily, she began issuing orders.

"Al! We need to get Ed back home. Granny can fix this!"

"...no...no...this can't be happening"

Alphonse, however, was in his own world; he couldn't comprehend or even process the order Winry had given him. Irritated, Winry clasped her hands on top of his shoulders and gave him a rough shake.

"Alphonse! GET A GRIP!" She exclaimed, slapping Al across the face with her right palm.

"If you want to save your brother, then you need to get it together! If anyone can help him, its granny, so it's our job to get him to her!" Winry grasped the both sides of Al's head so he would be looking straight at her. "Do you understand Alphonse?" She asked firmly.

Hesitantly, Al acquiesced and nodded, despite the solid grip Winry had on his head that restricted his ability to move.

"OK, Al, glad to have you back"

Winry went back to examining semi-conscience Ed, determining the best way to move him, but the problem is, how do we move me without aggravating his wounds? It's not like we have a stretcher of any kind." She sat back with a thoughtful look. "And we need to move him fast; he's already lost enough blood as it is"

Alphonse wasn't exactly a pious person, considering he's an alchemist, but now's an exception. _God, if your there, please help brother. Do anything! Heal his wounds, turn back time, conjure up a stre..._

"Wait!" Al shouted abruptly causing Winry to jump.

"What is it?"

"Alchemy..." Alphonse breathed as though he was still dazed from his sudden ephiphany.

Exasperated, Winry turned towards Al and shouted. "What's wrong with you Al, I thought I had you back, now you're going off talking about your stupid alchemy!"

Stepping back, putting his hands of defensively, Al quickly replied "No! That's not it! I mean I can make a stretcher!"

Realization struck Winry and she pause half-stride. "Well, hurry up! Even granny won't be able to save him if we waste anymore time."

"ngh..."

The soft moan caught the two off guard; they quickly spun in the direction of the source. Ed was to moving; he seemed to trying to get up on his own. "Al..."

The two dashed forward, Winry held him down, precluding Ed to move. "Al! What are you doing! We need a stretcher now!"

"R-right!" Al drew a simple circle in the dirt with his index finger and slammed his palms on the based of the drawing. The earth began moving, engendering the elements needed to create sizeable stretcher right under Edward.

"Ok, now take the handles and let's go!" Winry commanded as she lifted her end of the stretcher near Ed's feet. Alphonse nodded and picked up his end and swiftly led the way to Rockbell's residence.

Ed's breath was irregular and the face began to pale significantly due to the penurious amount of blood. "Al..." he whimpered miserably. Breathing and maintaining consciousness quickly became a chore.

"It's okay, brother, I'm here. Just stay with us." Al assured.

Talking was a mission. "Are…are you hurt?"

'No, brother, I'm fine. We're gonna take you to Granny Pinako to get you fixed up. you're gonna be ok. C'mon Ed, stay with us!" Al cried as Ed's eyes began to droop.

"wah eva ya say..." Ed slurred, but the darkness had already crept up around the peripheries of his vision; slowly, but surely the darkness engulfed him.

"ED!" "BROTHER!"

Ed was no longer there. He was floating, dwelling in the darkness of his subconscious.

**(1) From that one episode with the lady robber... I forgot which one...  
**

**I originally made this story a one-shot, but after some consideration, I MIGHT make it into an actual story with more than just 1 chapter. Since school has already started for me and I'm in a couple of AP classes and a Physics class, it may take longer than it should for me to update everything. So I'm just going to warn my readers that updates are most likely going to take very long (either a week to a month or more, depending on the month and testing) or there won't be any updates until I get my week long breaks from school. Sorry guys, but I put my academics first. However, I promise that I will try hard to update for you.**

**Anyhoos, Review please! My first Story! Comments on grammar spelling, or story will be appreciated. Thank you!**


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